By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) – The US Justice Department has charged two former senior FBI officials with lying to Congress about their knowledge of investigations into former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, according to court documents made public on Friday.
Nikki Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, who each held senior counterintelligence roles at the FBI, were charged in federal court in Washington. They allegedly misled a House of Representatives panel about the role of an FBI foreign influence task force in investigations into Hunter Biden, according to a criminal complaint.
The case marks the latest attempt by the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute US officials over incidents that angered President Donald Trump and his allies.
Floris and Benavides served in leading roles on the FBI foreign influence task force, a group aimed at combating attempts to influence US elections that was disbanded during the second Trump administration after facing criticism from Republicans.
The officials briefed two Republican senators in 2020, warning them of US intelligence concerns that some allegations against Hunter Biden were part of a Russian influence operation, according to prior media reports.
Lawyers for Floris condemned the case on Friday as the latest in a string of politically motivated prosecutions by the DOJ under the Trump administration.
“The government’s reasons for charging Nikki are as transparent as they are unjust: to push a false narrative for a shot at political points,” Floris’ lawyers said in a statement.
A lawyer for Benavides did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Lying to Congress by anyone strikes at the heart of our democratic system, but when senior FBI agents lie to Congress believing they are above the law, it’s time to bring the hammer of justice down on them,” US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro wrote in a social media post.
Floris and Benavides made an initial court appearance on Friday. A federal grand jury in Washington will have to approve an indictment for the case to move forward.
A TRUMP GRIEVANCE
The case centers on an issue that has long been a focus of Trump and his allies: the FBI’s handling of a laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden that surfaced in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.
The criminal complaint alleges that Floris and Benavides lied to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 testimony where they each claimed little knowledge of the Hunter Biden investigation and the laptop episode. It alleges that Floris and Benavides were in contact with members of the Hunter Biden investigative team in 2020 and took part in the FBI’s response to public reporting on the laptop.
Benavides told the House panel that he learned about the Hunter Biden probes through searching on Wikipedia, according to the complaint.
Hunter Biden was later charged with federal gun and tax-related crimes during his father’s administration. Joe Biden pardoned his son shortly before leaving office.
Trump and his allies have long claimed that the FBI, during Trump’s first term, and social media companies, suppressed the laptop story to protect Joe Biden’s campaign. The case against Floris and Benavides does not make that allegation.
The DOJ under Trump has also investigated the US intelligence community’s finding that Russia sought to aid Trump’s 2016 campaign and the FBI raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for classified documents in 2022. That probe has been mired in staff turmoil.
The DOJ has also brought charges against former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly lying to Congress about media leaks, a case that was later dismissed, and for allegedly threatening Trump in a social media post that featured seashells arranged to form the numbers “86 47.”
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Daniel Wallis)
